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Public transport – mobility in the city has never been more underrated. In Singapore, decades of extensive planning to build infrastructure for convenient, efficient and comfortable transportation island-wide have given us 245.3km of rail networks and over 5,000 bus stops.

On average, in 2022, 3.4 million bus rides and 2.7 million MRT rides were taken daily.

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The evolution of public transport in Singapore’s history is closely tied to the nation’s development. As early as 1919, public motor buses for commuters were introduced in Singapore. Run by private Chinese companies, they were nicknamed ‘mosquito buses’ — unlicensed, small, seven-seater buses that recklessly plied the streets looking for passengers. In the 1920s and 1930s, it would have been a nightmare to organise travel by bus. Multiple bus companies controlled their own territories and set their own routes, regulations, timetables and fares. In 1935, a Municipal Ordinance ruled that only certified companies could be issued with licences, forcing individual operators to organise themselves into 12 bus companies.

These later became 11 companies after the Japanese Occupation, later merging into 4 and then 3 companies in 1971 following worker strikes, corruption, overcrowding, inadequate staff training, poorly maintained buses and lack of coordination between the bus companies. In 1955 alone, there were 57 strikes in the Chinese Bus Companies — including the infamous Hock Lee Bus Riots, which left 31 injured and 4 dead. This incident became one of artist Lim Hak Tai’s sources for the painting Riot (1955). With sombre colours and angular, abstracted forms, Lim captured the chaos of the mid-fifties. In 1973, after continued competition, lack of standardisation and duplication of route services, the government stepped in to merge the three bus companies, forming Singapore Bus Services (SBS). Under the government’s directive, corruption and unaccountability were swiftly eradicated, and public bus services were streamlined to improve passengers’ experiences.

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By the end of 1979, the government withdrew its team of 38 officers seconded to the company, and SBS continues to run today as SBS Transit Limited. The nationalisation of the bus service in 1973 was a key milestone which played a major role in the efficiency of our public transport system today. It is often easy to forget how complicated public transport systems are, as we take thousands of journeys everyday on public buses and trains. Photographer and artist Lavender Chang’s work “Floating Rays of a Wanderer“ poetically traces these rides through the lens of her camera. Capturing images along a public bus route, she maps the journey through her signature long-exposure photographs, compressing the journey’s duration into a singular frame. Each image is both a unique record of a bus ride that cannot be replicated, and a document of Singapore’s ever-changing landscape.

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While our everyday experiences of trains and buses are for the most part smooth-sailing, the history of public transportation in Singapore has had its ups and downs . Given the high costs of owning a car, millions of Singaporeans rely daily on this sprawling network that employs over a hundred thousand workers. Tensions can run high, with any hiccups in the system felt acutely.

In 2012, 171 Chinese bus drivers hired by SMRT refused to work, citing poor living conditions and significantly lower wages than their Malaysian and Singaporean counterparts. The incident spotlighted how the needs of migrant workers – who are essential to the everyday functions of the city-state – could have been better met. The imprisonment and deportation of several drivers also sparked debates over labour rights.

With a fully integrated fare structure and concessionary fares, public transportation in Singapore is highly affordable when benchmarked against other cities. That said, among resident Singaporeans, public transportation can, too, appear to be a site of inequality. According to the 2020 population census, about 33% of cleaners, labourers and related workers relied only on public buses to get to work, whereas the corresponding figures for professionals on the one hand, and legislators, senior officials and managers, on the other, were 11% and 6% respectively.

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Tze Yang questions the complex, often contradictory experiences we have of public transport. On the one hand, buses and trains serve as an equalising space where Singaporeans across all walks of life are afforded a clean, efficient, and affordable means of getting around. On the other hand, ideals of class ascension remain deeply embedded in our attitudes towards public transportation, which some no longer wish to rely on. After all, no one likes being packed nose-to-nose in an MRT cabin with other tired commuters following a long day of work. As Teo Yeo Yenn puts it in This is What Inequality Looks Like, “We live everyday, bodily realities. Inequality is experienced in the interior of hours and minutes of a day.”

Adding to these complexities are issues of environmental sustainability. As the city-state continues to grow, enhanced public transportation systems offer a viable solution to minimising our carbon footprint, as well as reducing congestion and pollution. To this end, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has been investing heavily in public transport infrastructure, including the expansion of the MRT network, the construction of new bus interchanges, and the introduction of electric buses. Just this year, a push towards the electrification of vehicles was announced, and by 2030 it is projected that half of Singapore’s public bus and taxi fleets will be electric.

With initiatives like ‘Friendly Streets’ to make cycling and walking safer and more convenient for everyone, it remains to be seen if classist stereotypes about owning private vehicles will prevail in the face of pressing environmental concerns.

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In June 1991, four performance artists staged a strange intervention on the streets of Singapore. Dressed in conjoined blue workers’ suits, Tang Da Wu, Azman Mohamed, Ahmad Mashadi and Zai Kuning walked from the National Museum to the YMCA. Travelling slowly through bus stops and train stations, the artists highlighted the lack of inclusive infrastructure.

In the decades since then, public transportation has become much more accessible to persons with disabilities (PWDs). But the idea that disability is a result not just of the individual’s biological differences, but also of social factors — such as barriers in the physical environment, or a lack of awareness among service staff and the public as to how to communicate with PWDs — hasn’t always been accepted.

In 1982, shortly after the decision to build the MRT was announced, disability advocates from the Handicaps Welfare Association called for the state to consider their equal rights to use the MRT. The Committee on a Barrier-Free Environment for the Disabled and the Aged in our Land Communications System was formed to look into this issue.

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In November 1983, however, the MRT Corporation published an article titled “Not for Disabled”, outlining their position that PWDs should not use the MRT. Over the next two years, spokespersons from the Corporation and the Ministry for Communication and Information reiterated that cost-efficiency would precede the needs of the disabled minority.

It was only in the 2000s that inclusivity became a priority in urban design. In 1999, the Ministry for National Development at last decided to retrofit the MRT system for access, considering the aging population. In 2007, the First Enabling Masterplan (2007) was launched to empower PWDs to live as “equal, integral and contributing members of society”. One of the aims of this five-year policy roadmap was to eliminate infrastructural barriers.

Today, all public buses are wheelchair-accessible, and all MRT and LRT stations, all bus interchanges, and 98% of bus shelters in Singapore are barrier-free. Frontline staff undergo experiential training to better empathise with and assist passengers with disabilities. Pedestrian overhead bridges are gradually being fitted with lifts, and buses include rear-door push buttons which can be used to alert drivers that wheelchair users need to board the bus.

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In March this year, the Ministry of Transport announced further inclusive changes intended to aid families with young children, deaf or hard-of-hearing commuters, and those with dementia. These include background noise-cancelling hearing enhancement systems, and pictograms to facilitate communication between public transport staff and people with verbal communication difficulties.

Despite these improvements, much remains to be done. For instance, wheelchair users find it difficult to access transport nodes without sheltered linkways on rainy days. Communication barriers, such as the lack of non-visual information on bus route diversions for people with limited vision, also make it difficult for PWDs to plan new routes.

On an interpersonal level, more needs to be done educating passengers, who in their day-to-day commute, might be oblivious to wheelchair users trying to board or alight lifts, buses, and train carriages. Some might stand on tactile ground surface indicators, making it difficult for visually-impaired persons to navigate MRT stations. Persons with disabilities might also feel self-conscious about asking for help, or feel embarrassed that they are holding up their fellow passengers.